BASR2
by Rose151
Summary: Squeal to original BASR fanfic. Stacy is conflicted on whether or not she's in love with her best friend, Bradley.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Once again, DO NOT OWN SHOW OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS!! Just a fan that'll actually show others that this show exsists and that there are fans. Very demented fans. I'm talking about me, so shut up. :p ENJOY!!

She ran. Her target objective: to get home for dinner or else. Stopping a few times to catch her breath, she would wonder. _"Am I gonna make it on time? Am I going the right way? Wait, I know I am! What am I thinking?! What am I DOING?!"_ She continued to run. At one point, young Stacy Stickler started reliving the events of her day.

_"Ok. Got all my assignments, right? Right! Geometry homework," _Went passed one store, _"...English...,"_ Another, _"Science, Math, that assignment for Gym class...," _Made her way past a construction site, while in the process of getting yelled at for being in the way - "SORRY!" She yelled back. Wait, wasn't there something else? Something else that happened that normally wouldn't? Stacy stopped one last time to catch her breath.

_"...Yeah...I think...I got everything,...but...did I forget to tell someone something? ...No, that's not it...what happened today?" _Got out of school, Bradley, hung out with the guys, Bradley, got bored...

_"...Bradley." _It hit her. Everything at one time. Bradley was in love with her. It was real. Everything was real. The confusion, his confession-

_"STACE!! ...It's you. The person I'm crushing on...is you."_

Her first kiss...being in love...

_"Love?"_

Wait...WHAT?!

_"WAAAAIT A MINUTE HERE! WAIT-WAIT-WAIT...I'm in love with Bra-WAIT! ...I'm in love?!"_

Was it getting hotter outside? She felt sick, different...Stacy looked at a nearby window. No, nothing was wrong: she was just blushing. BLUSHING?

"...I'm in love." She let the words sink in. "...I'm...in...LOVE!" Giggles came out. " I'M IN LOVE!!" Hands glued to the sides of her head, Stacy slid off the wall to sit on the concrete below, laughing like there was no tomorrow. She couldn't believe it. She just couldn't! Stacy Stickler was in love! LOVE! The kind of thing seen in romance movies where a guy sweeps a girl off her feet. Everything revolving around it! The cuddling, the romantic walks on the beach, slow, descending sunsets-the WORKS! EVERYTHING was gonna happen to her! EVERYTHING was gonna be the fairy tale that she always wanted! Everything was going to be OK! She HAD to get home, HAD to RELISH this precious moment! Stacy finally got up and started jogging home.

She reached the door. About to turn the knob-WAIT! Why does her face feel wet? Stacy wiped her cheek with the back of a hand. Was she _crying?_

"Stacy, is that you?" Mrs. Stickler called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, Mom! I'm not too late, am I?"

"No, Honey. Well, actually a LITTLE bit late, but it should be ok." Stacy walked in the kitchen and saw her mother looking puzzled at the pot simmering before her. "I just can't seem to get this darn thing cooking today! Usually I wouldn't have this much of a problem, but today...! Ugh! My head must not be in the right place!" Stacy looked at the pot, then back at her mother.

"Is there anything I can help out with, Mom?"

"No, No, Sweetie. I think this thing just might need a little more time. I'll call you when it's do-" She paused when she got a look at her daughter's face. "Stacy, Honey...is everything ok?"

"Of course, Mom. Why? ...Do I seem different somehow?"

"Well, usually when you come home for dinner, you usually wouldn't seem this...happy."

...Well, this was unexpected! What to say, what to say... "D-Don't worry, Mom. E-Everything's fine! I'm just...excited to be home...that's all!"

... "Well...ok. Just make sure you get your homework done and not let whatever's going on distract you, alright?"

"Alright, Mom." And she went to her room. Closing the door and tossing her book bag aside, Stacy got a good look at her ceiling. A long breath in and out got her from a standing position to sitting while leaning against the door. She closed her eyes, lay her head back, and let all the feelings from before resurface.

Love...is this what it feels like? Is it really _this_ good? Well, for all she knew, all the signs pointed to 'yes'. Her heart was fluttering the same, she was extremely happy...But then...why did it seem so...awkward? What _did_ happen that day?

"I'm in love, I'm-in-love, I'm-in-love..."

It was no use. The more she said it, the less her heart felt.

Her eyes opened. Stacy looked at her hands: they were clutching to the bottom of her bright orange dress. What's _wrong_?! What happened to all the good feelings that were coursing through her? What _happened_ today?

_"...Do you...love me?"_

Bradley said that. _Bradley_ said that... He asked her if she loved him. LOVED...him? "B-Man, I..." she whispered.

The kiss... Stacy moved her fingers to her lips. It felt so...so exilerating. The overwhelming feelings when he put his mouth on hers... She would give anything, ANYTHING to have that feeling, again. But did she really want it? Does she really love him?

Her face was becoming wet, again.

Scratching was heard on the door. Then whimpering.

"Alright, alright. Hold on."

Frank, the family's beloved, "Weiner Dog" was at her door.

"Hey, Franko!" At least he can cheer her up... He decided to crawl on her and give this cute, pleading look. She rubbed his head and started a little play session. Rubbing his stomach, rolling around on the floor, playing, playing, playing...

"Stacy, dinner's ready!" Her mother called from the kitchen. She sighed, stood up and headed there, along with Frank who was one step ahead: mealtime is one of his favorite times of the day. Dinnertime didn't go as smoothly as it usually would. Sure, Mrs. Stickler finally figured out what she was doing wrong and Frank was enjoying his meal. But there was tension in the air and they could feel it-both mother and daughter.

"Are you sure you're ok, Sweetie? It seems like your mood just _dropped_ since you went to your room!"

Stacy gave a small smile. "Yeah, everything's ok. I'm just..." Thinking for a moment. "-Going through a bad dream I had! Y-Yeah! Don't worry, Mom. I can handle it!"

She fell for it - in a way. Giving her daughter the, 'If you need anything, just let me know' and 'You don't have to go through it alone' talk, Mrs. Stickler continued eating. Stacy hated lying to her mother, but she just wasn't ready to talk about something _this_ serious, yet. After the regular bedtime routine that they would have every night, the light was shut off and, after giving her daughter one last concerned glance, she left the room. Stacy stared at the dark ceiling.

_"Do I...do I REALLY love him?"_

Thinking, thinking... She gave up. Everything she was hoping for, everything that she looked forward to in the future was all crushed by the realization of one, 'simple' answer:

_"No...I DON'T love him..."_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Do not own the show or anything revolving around it! I only claim the facts that this fanfic is mine and I came up with the term BASR (Standing for Bradley And Stacy Romance). That's it. ENJOY!!!

**Ch. 2**

It seems like she slept rather good last night, despite having to face the inevitable the next day. The only child of the Stickler family got up that morning hoping that she could somehow survive school and everything after it. She got dressed, fixed herself up and ate breakfast. If EATING meant picking at the cereal and moving the spoon around most of the time.

"Stacy, you're not playing with your food, again, are you?"

"No, Mom."

Mrs. Stickler finally looked over at her daughter. She sighed. "Well, I HOPE not 'cause we have to leave in 5 minutes!" Stacy got the hint and started to actually eat her food. Before they left they shared a, 'Have a good day' hug and said their goodbyes. Her Mom left first. Before _she_left, Stacy stared at the door, preparing for the start of what she figured was going to be a long day. A VERY, _long_ day...

_"Well, maybe I can try to avoid walking with him this morning..."_

She opened the door and locked it behind her. Turning around-

"Hey, Stacy!" It was Bradley.

"O-Oh...Hey, Bradley."

"You ready for another day?"

... "Yeeah. I guess..."

"Cool. Let's go!" He extended his hand.

She stared at it. "...Wha...What are you doing?"

"I thought that maybe we could hold hands together."

_"Hold...HANDS?!"_ Stacy knew it was gonna get bad. _Was_there any excuse to get out of it? ...Apparently not. She sighed.

"...Ok." She slipped her hand in his. They started walking. On the way there, Stacy would glance at him a few times and notice he was...uncomfortably happy. Is _this_how he's gonna be throughout the rest of the day? She had no idea. He glanced at her for a moment...untill she finally looked up. Her response was the corniest and cheeziest smile that she could produce. He just warmly smiled back. Finally reaching the school and noticing all the kids going inside, Stacy completely stopped in her tracks.

"What?" Bradley looked down at their hands. "Ooooh, I get it!" He let go, finally. "Don't worry, Stace. They won't have to know a THING! I'll see you inside, ok?" Leaving her alone, she was able to start breathing properly. YEAH, '_See_him inside'! That means seeing him for the rest of the day! Maybe, just maybe...it'll be ok. ...Somehow.

Actually, she had HAD better days! It seemed like in every class they were in, Bradley was using some excuse or another to try to get close to her. One revolved around a folded note getting tossed on her lap when the teacher looked away: it was from him. At least _that_wasn't noticeable! At lunchtime, however, Stacy didn't seem really hungry. Bradley noticed this and was egging her on and on about how she should try to eat and how she'll get hungry later if she doesn't-even to the point of doing the Choo-Choo Train technique used for infants to try to FORCE her to eat! Stacy got SO annoyed that she practically slapped the sandwich out of his hand! Others revolved around her tripping in Gym for him to help her up to being at a school assembly and because they're usually SO boring, Bradley fell asleep...except that he decided to rest his head on her shoulder! Stacy managed to nudge him back to his own chair.

At some point, he woke up. Everyone was leaving the assembly.

"Stace?" She was nowhere to be found.

Yeah, she ditched him. Stacy was on her way home: If she had to deal with him at LEAST one more time...! He MENT well, she knew THAT, but it just got to be TOO MUCH! She just passed by their favorite climbing tree. Too bad she didn't bother to look up, first!

"HIYA, STACE!"

A startled Stacy looked back. "Where'd YOU come from?!"

"Duh, Stace! You ALWAYS take this route home! So anyway, what happened back there?! Decided to DITCH me, or something?!"

BUSTED! "...Uhh...OH! I just REALLY wanted to get home, t-that's all! REALLY need to start on this weekend homework, you know?!" Well, at least she didn't accidentally spill some lie about being sick! Bad enough she had to deal with her _mother's_ reaction to something like that! It'll probably be TEN times worse if HE were to know, being how he is, now!

"Oh, ok. Maybe, if you want, I can help! Yeah! We could have a study group, or something! I already got all my books and all, so maybe we could walk over to your place and..."

YEEEAAAH...Bradley's CLEARLY lost his mind! He'd NEVER be this excited (Really excited at all) about getting homework done! Usually he'd be looking for excuses to get OUT of doing it and eventually, having to.

"...And at some point, maybe we can have a sleep over! I can call my mom and dad and say that we were studying so hard that I got too tired to go home! AND, since it's the weekend, we could spend the WHOLE DAY together tomorrow! It'll be SO cool! We could hang out with the guys, maybe go out for some ice cream together! It'd be...it'd actually be kinda like a date! But going to the SAME places OVER and OVER, again can be SOO BOORING!! You know what'd be cool? If we could go out to different towns to do stuff or even, different COUNTRIES! Or even, outside the PLANET! We could check out the stars, the Milkyway Galaxy, even check out the trendiest places on each of the different planets! MAYBE we'll even run into some aliens-"

"Not NOW, Bradley!"

"Aliens from-"

"I SAID NOT-"

"URANUS!"

She slapped her hand against her forehead.

"Look, B-Man I...I just don't know, yet."

He looked at her. "Don't know what?"

"About...all this Luvy-Duvy stuff that you want us to go through."

Wait-a-minute! " 'That _I_ want us to go through'?' Stace, I thought we were in this together! I thought-"

"LOOK, Bradley! ...I...I don't think I want this, yet." She started to walk ahead.

He watched her go. "Stace!" Running to catch up, Bradley cut her off and grabbed her shoulders. "What's WITH you, today? You've been acting weird ALL DAY! I thought that maybe you could've been a little sick from not wanting to eat, but NOW... What HAPPENED?! First it was the love note. I thought that MAYBE you'd write back, but when you didn't, I figured that you just wanted to continue to be the little Straight A student that everyone knows you to be and continued paying attention in class!"

"Bradley, I'm not THAT-"

"-THEN you decide to ditch me during the assembly! Now THIS! Stacy, what's going on with you?! Please, TALK TO ME! Let me know what's up!"

She stared at him. "Bradley, just...just no."

" 'No' what?"

"Just...just NO, alright?" She tried to push him off, but he only held on.

"No way, Man! I'm not letting you go until you REALLY tell me what's bothering you!"

You know what? At this point, he REALLY needs to know!

"You wanna know what's bothering me, Bradley?! It's YOU! YOU'RE the one who's been doing it to me ALL day! The note, lunchtime, GYM CLASS, EVERYTHING! You haven't been acting like yourself for ONE LITTLE BIT today! I'M the one who should be asking YOU what's wrong! It's like this whole thing that happened yesterday just completely CHANGED you! Like your true self was suddenly sucked into a black hole and was replaced by some sort of Bradley ZOMBIE from beyond the stars! What DID happen to you, Bradley?! Why don't you tell ME that!"

"...Stace, I told you everything yesterday-"

"Yeah, I know: The whole-..." She just couldn't take it anymore. "You know what? ...Just...no..."

"What are you talking about? You're not making any sense-"

"I KNOW what I'm talking about! I just...I can't take this, I can't DO this! I..." _"Please..."_ She was pleading to herself. _"Please don't make me do this...!"_ Stacy breathed out a shaky sigh.

"Stacy..._please_... Just _talk_ to me..."

She looked at him. Crud! WHY does he have to look so innocent, NOW?! Breathing in again...

"B-Man,...I can't."

" 'Can't' what?"

"I can't deal with this."

"With _what?!_ Stace, just TALK to me!"

"With ANY of this! ANY of this stuff we're going through!"

"What are you saying?"

"You KNOW what I'm saying!"

"No, I DON'T!"

"Well, just listen!"

"I AM listening! Please, just let me help you!"

"NO, Bradley!"

"I CARE about you, Stacy! If you would let me in-"

"Bradley, stop it."

"Why are you being so difficult?! All you have to do is let me in! Once THAT happens, everything'll be ok! I just wanna help you-"

"STOP it."

"Come on! Please? Just try. I care about you. I... I love you, Stacy-"

"STOP IT!"

"I can show you! I can show you that you don't have to feel this way. I can show you everything! Anything that you want! I'll even GIVE you everything! I don't know how I'll do it, but I'll try!"

"Bradley, I..."

"I'll give you the WORLD, if I have to! I'll take care of you! Stacy, please. Just trust me and I'll make all your problems go away! I'll take them all away. I'll give you the fairy tale that you've always wanted! I'll be your prince, your knight, ANYTHING! Just tell me what you want and I'll-"

"I DON'T LOVE YOU, BRADLEY!!"

"..."

He slowly and finally let his grasp on her shoulders go.

"Oh. ...O-ok." Bradley looked at his feet. Then to one side. Then to another. Everything looked the same, yet sddenly felt so..._different_. Like the world's color was slowly melting off the buildings and streets, going to black and white. Is _this_what heartache was?! If so, then it was a REALLY scary place! Struggling to regain composure, he finally looked up at her. "I-If that's how you feel," Even if all of this was happening, he's still (HAD to be!) the same Bradley. "T-Then I guess it's ok..." RIGHT?

"I...I guess I'll see you at school on Monday." He shoved his fists in his pockets and started to walk away.

"Bradley, wait! I-"

"No-no. It's ok. I heard you. You don't have to say anymore."

"...Please?" She whispered.

"...Yeah, you know what? I think I'll just leave you here to let you think about what you did. Saying that you, "loved" me, then throwing me aside like that!" Bradley looked at her. "Yeah, REAL mature, Stacy." He didn't look back.

Watching him walk away was all she could really do at this point. A thought crossed Stacy Stickler's mind: Did she see something in his eye before he walked away? Her knees hit the ground and she finally let _her_ tears come out.


End file.
